northern alliance

Northern Alliance (Canada)

The Northern Alliance is a far right, white supremacist organization based in London, Ontario, Canada. The group started in 1997, and has been involved in a number of public controversies. The group's leading members include Jason Ouwendyk, Tyler Chilcott, Dave Ruud and Tomas Szymanski. The number of members in the group is not known.

The Northern Alliance was founded with the help of Raphael Bergmann, an associate of holocaust denierErnst Zündel, who has said former Heritage Front leader Wolfgang Droege was a mentor. Bergmann addressed two gatherings of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1990s, and reportedly organized racialistrock concerts in London during the same period. Bergmann claims that he started the Northern Alliance as a "discussion group", and that its members met on an informal basis. Others have questioned this claim and have suggested that the group existed as a more formal organization from its earliest days.

Beliefs

According to the group's manifesto, the group is dedicated to "the protection and advancement of the rights of Canadians of European descent", which it describes as "the most beautiful, creative and intelligent race on Earth." The group advocates that Canada "return to its former immigration policies and exclude peoples from non-Western countries", also arguing that "only those with European ancestry should be permitted to become citizens of Canada". The group opposes drug legalization on the grounds that "illicit drug use is detrimental to White society", and abortion on the grounds that "abortion stops a White heart". It opposes same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. Their website had included links to groups such as the Canadian National Socialist Front, BC White Pride and the Imperial Klans of Canada, as well as to other racist groups from around the world.

Controversies

In 1999, 17 members of the Northern Alliance, including Bergmann and Tyler Chilcott, received letters from London's police force, describing the Northern Alliance as an "extreme right wing" group, and "requiring" the group members to appear at police headquarters to clarify their beliefs. The members refused to comply, and Bergmann and Chilcott took the letter to the leaders of the Freedom Party of Ontario. Bergmann and Chilcott were not charged with any offence, so party president Robert Metz decided to take up their cause as a free speech issue. Lloyd Walker, then-leader of the Freedom Party, requested that the Solicitor General of Ontario, David Tsubouchi, provide a list of "extreme" political beliefs that could result in such police action.

On December 3, 1999, the London Free Press, using information from Detective Superintendent Dave Lucio, published an article describing the Northern Alliance as "urban terrorists", and listed Bergmann as the group's leader. Bergmann launched a civil suit against the paper, based on the article and a follow-up piece published the next day.

During the 1999 controversy, Bergmann claimed that the Northern Alliance was not a formal organization, and denied that he held any official leadership position. Others have cast serious doubts on these claims and have argued that Bergmann deliberately downplayed his group's racialist beliefs in an attempt to gain mainstream credibility. In mid-2000, Bergmann organized a "Straight Pride" parade in London and Toronto, as a hostile response to the cities' Gay Pride parades. On December 14, 2003, an article in the Toronto Star described the Northern Alliance as "an especially poisonous hate group."